UAE. Thomson Reuters, the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, today announced that it is to expand the geographic footprint of its legal business in the Middle East with the acquisition of Lexgulf Publishers, a leading provider of translations into English of the business laws of key Middle East markets.

Lexgulf is a valuable addition to the market leading Westlaw Gulf online research service and The Brief magazine already supplied by Thomson Reuters Legal Middle East and North Africa.

With the rapid development of business legislation in the Gulf region, both local and international lawyers are keen to access a high quality legal information service which assists them to improve the way they work across these markets. Currently, Westlaw Gulf provides lawyers with expertly written English translations of the most commercially relevant and widely used laws and cases from the UAE.

This acquisition comes in line with Thomson Reuters’ strategic vision to expand its coverage to the rest of the Middle East and lead the move to advanced information, software and online services for the Middle East legal information industry.

With the addition of a substantial body of authoritative translations of laws of the Gulf states as a result of this acquisition, Lexgulf will enable Thomson Reuters to expand its legal information services into new jurisdictions in the region including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman, in addition to the U.A.E., further supporting our customers in the region as well as globally.

Lexgulf has one of the longest established publishing programs in English covering Middle East business law, spanning the past 30 years. The company is recognized for the high quality of its translations. This new content will further consolidate Thomson Reuters’ position as a leading provider of legal research products in the major Gulf States.

“Westlaw Gulf was launched at the end of last year to meet the demand for an authoritative source of translations for lawyers operating across the Gulf region,” said Basil Moftah, Managing Director for the Middle East, Africa and Russia. “This acquisition is an exciting addition to our legal offering in the Middle East, it confirms our commitment to offer customers locally the most comprehensive source of laws covering the region.”

“We are very pleased to be supplying our high-quality translations alongside Westlaw Gulf. Lexgulf’s subscribers include both national and international law firms in the Gulf, Europe, and the U.S.; general counsels of major corporations doing business in the Gulf; and university law libraries,” said Alastair Graham, Managing Director of Lexgulf.

Lexgulf’s publications are currently available in regularly updated, loose-leaf volumes. Going forward, Thomson Reuters will look at new methods to deliver this content online and via mobile devices. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed

About Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters is the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, healthcare and science and media markets, powered by the world's most trusted news organization. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs more than 55,000 people and operates in over 100 countries.

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